We invite you to join The Location Advantage MOOC instructors John Shramek andJoseph Kerskihere on the GeoNet Community for a LIVE AMA (Ask Me Anything) event. The AMA will take place in this discussion thread on Tuesday, April 24, 2018, from 10:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. (PDT).

This is an opportunity to ask the Location Advantage MOOC instructors questions about the course, about earth imagery data, Esri software, GIS or anything else that comes to mind.

How does the AMA work?

During the AMA, you can post your questions by clicking the "Add Reply" button below and John and/or Joseph will reply to your questions in comments. You are welcome to post questions ahead of the AMA and they will answer them during the AMA.

For #1, yes you technically can use the ArcGIS Online login for other training, although you'd need to verify the requirements with that particular course. Some courses may need the login to also be one that is enabled for Esri access (which the ArcGIS Online login we give you for the MOOCs is not). For the MOOCs, you need to use the credentials that are specific to the course, to have access to all of the materials.

On your #2 question - GIS Career Pathway Guidelines <-- See my post on GIS career and interview guidelines. I hope it is helpful - it includes job interview tactics, networking, resume and CV building, and much more. I hope it is helpful!

My advice for #2 is, for getting interviews, try to get experience as well as education, however you can. Volunteer experience, self-directed cartography or analysis projects, and internships can help fill your resume. For the interview itself, highlight what you have done on the job, to show them what you can do for them. Research the company and think about what their needs or wants might be, and talk about how you'd address them. That's even a good question to ask during the interview: what impediments are you having right now, what are your long-term goals for the organization, or what can I do to make your job easier or implement your vision?

Esri is great, we get to constantly look to the future and figure out how to help users change the world, literally. It's pretty neat, and everyone's on the same page in that respect.

The interview process is...thorough. Multiple multiple interviews (on the phone, for me, in Colorado anyway). Tip: just because they fly you out to Redlands, CA doesn't mean you're definitely in! But it results in a great team, and turnover is super low. Good luck if you're thinking about it!

Hi Julie - I had a similar experience that John had and I think many others here do as well. So, be patient with the interview process because the ultimate goal is to make sure that the applicant is a good fit for the job position. Which is a good thing! I spent much of my career in federal agencies so I wanted to work for a private company that had that similar mission of public service - and that is definitely something that Esri strives for - to serve and empower the decision-making community, worldwide.

I have been considering getting into map-making as a career, but I am unsure if it's too specific of a career path because I want to delve into other aspects of applied science. Do either of you ever go out into the field and look at the land that you map? And out of all the people you worked with in Esri, what kind of people have you worked/collaborated with the most (engineers, soil scientists, urban planners, etc.) and how? (If you have worked more closely with a variety of people before working for Esri, I would be happy to hear about that too!)

For either or both of you, what was the most interesting/fun experience where you have worked with maps?

I have been considering getting into map-making as a career, but I am unsure if it's too specific of a career path because I want to delve into other aspects of applied science. Do either of you ever go out into the field and look at the land that you map? And out of all the people you worked with in Esri, what kind of people have you worked/collaborated with the most (engineers, soil scientists, urban planners, etc.) and how? (If you have worked more closely with a variety of people before working for Esri, I would be happy to hear about that too!)

For either or both of you, what was the most interesting/fun experience where you have worked with maps?

Hi Julie - I serve on the education outreach team so the people I interact with most are professors, teachers, deans, provosts, campus facilities people, and students. But also I work with publishers, education outreach people at national parks, and lots of others in the field of education. Internally at Esri, education touches on many other teams. Yes, I get into the field and use Survey123 in conjunction with teaching workshops and courses. I would say that this is a GREAT time to get into GIS and mapmaking - there are so many fields - see www.esri.com/mapmuseum that use GIS in expanding ways.

Your questions are great. Thank you for posting them. If you are really interested in a career in GIS and mapmaking, just like you would use your LinkedIn to build your professional network, you can do the same here. GeoNet is also a wonderful place to network with other professionals, build the professional relationships and get to know who is hiring. Don't forget to include your experience on your GeoNet profile. Follow as many professionals in the field as you can learn from and don't be shy to ask our top participants for a little mentoring or career guidance. Many have been in the field a while and are experts in the world of GIS.

I would say not too specific at all, if anything, you'll need to narrow it down! GIS and the geospatial analysis that it allows is applied science, and it can be applied to...anything. Anything related to the environment, business, engineering, pretty much any industry has a space and a need to know where things are and how they relate to each other.

In Education Services at Esri I no longer interact with people who do the exciting stuff, outdoors, but there are lots of them, here and in other industries. I worked in engineering consulting, building roads and bridges, and between GIS analysts, map-makers, survey folks, CAD engineers, and remote sensing analysts, there were a lot of us needed to support that work.

My advice is, think about what industry or career you want to target, and then apply GIS to it. You'll be extremely marketable if you know, say, urban planning, or marketing, or whatever, and then also GIS and how it can be used in addition. Good luck, contact me through the course if you have more questions!

Around location data, point information usually geocodes to the site entrance driveway, and this is insufficient for first responders who need to know there's a gate, where the entry doors to the building(s) may be, where the roof hatches are located, where the emergency exits empty out, etc. Do you know where to point me for best practices recording and coding such points at fine enough resolution?

This course is about business geography, not overly applicable to public safety. But, I forwarded your question to someone in that realm, here's the reply I got:

"Currently, many in the fire industry are using several of our solutions on the Solutions page: http://solutions.arcgis.com/. Under local government, there are many solutions that get fire services started in creating fire incident maps and help develop pre-incident plans, which is what that question is referring to. Best practices have been to have fire folks using these solutions, that guide them through using Pro, creating maps online, and getting web maps ready for use in Collector. Then, they go collect information about roof hatches, emergency exits…or use web apps to edit those points for fine resolution... If you go to this page: https://www.esri.com/en-us/industries/public-safety/webinars, there are many webinars on fire planning. One, Modernizing Your Fire Department with ArcGIS Online shows exactly that, how you can go about creating pre plans by using the platform. Unfortunately, we don’t have “fire” training, yet, but this is planned for the future."